


The Moment You Were Lost

by Krasimer



Series: Dreams of You 'Verse [13]
Category: The Hobbit (2012)
Genre: Before the timeline picks up, History, M/M, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-21
Updated: 2013-05-21
Packaged: 2017-12-12 14:12:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/812477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Drabble)<br/>Oin lost his hearing when he was younger. Balin pulls him through the days, one moment at a time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Moment You Were Lost

When Balin entered his living quarters that evening, something felt amiss.

It felt like someone had taken something out of the rooms, but he couldn't quite put a name to what had been removed.

Refraining from calling out, he pulled off his outer wear, until he remained in nothing but a simple tunic and leggings. Walking silently, he made his way to the door that separated his sleeping quarters from the rest of his rooms.

Finally, the wrongness was solidified into a truth.

Oin sat on the edge of their bed, clutching a metal ear trumpet in his hands.

Balin smiled and stomped, nodding when Oin looked up.

The dwarrow made a face and pushed the trumpet underneath one of the pillows, holding the edges for a moment, as if he were trying to smother it. Grudgingly, he allowed Balin to take one of his hands away, bringing it to his lips. Oin only struggled for a second, merely acting as if he wanted to get away.

With a sigh, Balin lightly knocked their foreheads together.

Oin shook, ever so slightly, as if someone were taking a sliver of ice to the back of his neck. With a small, breathy noise, he dug his fingers through Balin's hair, twining through the now thoroughly wrecked braid. 

There had been a collapse in one of the mining tunnels.

Nothing truly awful. Just a small collapse of one section. Oin had been working in that particular section that day.

He had walked out of the rubble under his own power.

Within a few minutes of clearing aside fallen stone, Oin had been able to push his way through, having been the only one trapped.

Such a thing was able to be dealt with easily, quickly and carefully.

The trouble had begun when he couldn't hear any of the questions that had been aimed at him.

Balin pulled him closer, returning the favor of mussed hair.

He could still hear the louder noises, could still hear when something landed on the floor, but unless the words being spoken were shouted at him, he wouldn't be able to respond. Somehow, the stones had stolen his hearing from him. He had been deafened to the world, despite the hearty disposition of the dwarves of Erebor.

Wrapping a section of the now loose hair around his finger, Balin closed his eyes.

It just wasn't fair.

He started humming, one of the songs of the mountain that he had been sung when he was a dwarfling. Pausing only to place Oin's hands on his chest, he pulled the other in closer. After a few minutes, he felt Oin calming down, the tenseness draining from his shoulders.

"You'll be alright." Balin smiled and tugged softly at the hair in his hands again.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh gosh, so this is a pairing I really adore. Before I started being in this fandom really, I thought that Bofur/Nori was hard to find.
> 
> Apparently, I seek the hard to find pairings out.
> 
> I just like the idea of them being a cute old couple who isn't really affectionate in front of people, but with just each other they're all sappy and sweet and adorable. Plus, my timeline for them is a little strange, but they got together before Erebor fell and so now they're all worried over each other on this big long journey that is all really for the much younger folk.
> 
> I just...
> 
> I like the idea of Oin freaking out over not being able to hear. And Balin comforting him. And as the years go by, the hearing comes back in little bits and Balin watches him and smiles because he loves him so much and I am so sorry that my headcannon is infecting this site.


End file.
